Bah, Humbug. Hollywood is Making Another How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Let’s just say my heart shrank three sizes today.

I love how people pitch such a fit when a new movie comes out that they don’t like. If there’s a remake or if a movie is re-released in 3D, these people pitch a fit about and complain all the time. So here’s a solution, don’t go see it! No one is forcing you to watch a remake. However, there are people who actually want to watch these movies, if there weren’t, studios wouldn’t make them. If Horton Hears a Who and The Lorax didn’t make money, then the studio wouldn’t make a Grinch movie. Plain and simple. So these people who want to complain need to just hush. If you don’t like it, stay home!

I used to believe that too. Now I work at a library. A library that checks out DVDs, orders 20-30 copies of anything that comes out, and has a limit of 10 DVDs at a time (they check out for a week). (Yes, I know that the word “library” comes from the root “libre” for BOOK, but my superiors seem to have forgotten.)

Horton Hears A Who and the Lorax and This New Crap That We Made And Then Marketed The HELL Out Of will make money. They will make more money. Because these days–people will watch ANYTHING. Especially when it comes to kids movies. Is it good? Who cares, it’s plastered all over the Denny’s menu and it’s for kids–let’s take ‘em to it. It’s mildly horrifying.

“So these people who want to complain need to just hush”

That’s a phrase that always creeps me the hell out. “Don’t complain; you’re wrong” is such an insulting sort of mindset, and it shows up in a lot of places that are far more awkward than just a discussion about a remake (for example, when the subject of representation in media comes up), but how about this–for people who care about storytelling, it’s annoying to see Hollywood cash grabs. We’re gonna talk about it, because it is relevant to us, to our interests, and in some cases, to our jobs. How ’bout you hush? Or is that complaining that you’re complaining that she’s complaining?

Yes, this.

Also, Parents don’t actually WATCH these movies with their kids anymore. I remember mom refused us to get some of the cheap, direct to DvD stuff that me and my sister wanted to see because she couldn’t stand to watch it and wanted us to have standards. But a lot of parents will just let movies babysit their kids- and they don’t care what their kid will actually take away from such movies.

A negative opinion of a film isn’t a problem requiring a solution. It can be frustrating to people who love film or animation or books to see endless remakes of questionable quality come out year after year. I know that for me, venting that frustration keeps me from becoming excessively upset by it, and talking or writing about movies I don’t like helps me to understand what it is I don’t like about them. I doubt these statements are going to do much harm to either the film’s box office performance or the people who are excited for the film.

But at the same it isn’t necessary to complain so profusely about every remake that ever comes out. “Don’t Complain, your wrong.” may be an annoying mind set, but it does hold some value. When it comes to remakes being announced people tend to automatically think that it’s going to be sucky, but you really don’t know that until you’ve actually seen it. Sure a good deal of remakes can be sucky, but that doesn’t mean they all are. That doesn’t mean that this one will be. So in some cases they do need to suck it up, move on with their lives. It doesn’t ruin the original, it just brings new ideas to the table.

I actually really enjoyed The Lorax. It was fun to watch, which is an accomplishment, considering I’m a huge fan of the original. I really didn’t think that the live action Grinch was sucky either. People need to hold off on judging things until they actually see the film!

I agree with you—there tends to be this kneejerk reaction to remakes that goes something like “REMAKES, NO, HOLLYWOOD IS CREATIVELY BANKRUPT, DAMN YOOOOU.” I’m not happy about this Grinch remake because the studio’s previous Seuss work has shaken my faith, but it could still be good. I hope it is.

But yeah, seeing people complain about a remake for no other reason than it’s a remake ticks me off. There are tons of good remakes. The Departed, Dredd, True Grit.

At the same time, I don’t begrudge people who are tired of seeing remakes/sequels/reboots of things they love constantly thrown onto the screen as a blatant attempt to rake in the dough, which seems to happen with kid’s movies more than any other genre, with horror a close second. And I find myself having the same kneejerk “remake, eurgh!” reaction from time to time myself.

Sorry for the copious word vomit. In a weird mood right now. Tumblr does that to a person. :)

Exactly.

For the record, I liked the Jim Carey Grinch movie. It was fun and wacky and overall not bad, really, though it still came nowhere near the simple, elegant charm of the original animated version, which was exactly long enough. The Cat in the Hat movie remains, hands down, the worst movie I’ve ever seen. (Well, okay, not counting movies I saw specifically because they were bad.) It was abysmal. And the Lorax? That was just so messed up, I don’t know where to begin.

But you’re exactly right. I’m not gonna roll my eyes much at a remake, but when it’s a remake from a studio and in a style that has a history of doing blatant cash-grabs…yeah, that kinda sucks. (C’mon, the Lorax peddling cars to people? What the heck was that?)

It’s part of the reason I’m furious with TPTB at our library for constantly ordering crap. We KNOW that the parents are just gonna grab 10 DVDs off the shelf to fill their quota–at the very least, we could make sure that the majority of the movies one the shelf are GOOD ones. But nope. You want those cheap Brazilian Disney knock-offs like The Frog Princess and Rattatoing and Little Cars? Because we’ve got ‘em.

The movie was a YMMV, but the marketing on it was kind of a bit disgusting. I really think Dr. Geisel would’ve been more than a little upset.

No Karloff, no Thurl Ravenscroft, no sale.

To the “wait until you see the movie” crowd. The article clearly explains why they think the movie will most likely be garbage. It isn’t a knee jerk reaction. It’s a reaction to the writers and other people attached to the movie so far. It’s a reaction to their prior work, and a distaste for it. Sure there is a percentage that hate everything, but it is pretty clear that this article isn’t one of those cases. It is perfectly valid critic of a planned movie. The article doesn’t claim it’s horrible, they point out it doesn’t look like it will end up good.

By the “wait until you see it” logic you could never get excited about a movie either.

The Lorax was a fine movie…that is, if you don’t care about flat needless stereotypical villains or the moral of the original book/cartoon being butchered. Both just annoyed me too much. I liked the animation and music though.

No. Just…no. But this has just reminded me that I wanted to buy a copy of the 1966 version. Which – hey! I see has been cleaned up and re-released as of 2009. Sold!

I’m giving my money to Not-Illumination Entertainment. That’s what I think of this news.

I will continue to pretend none of this is happening.

No one’s forcing you people to go see it.